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Cundieff gave a great commentary on Fear of a Black Hat and I expected the same here. Cundieff is a well of information about the making of the film and tells all kinds of behind the scenes stories. There is no dull moments here.
The Making of Tales From the Hood (56m 12s, HD)
This is a wonderful look back at a film that didn’t find its
audience right away. We learn about how the film came about then we are taken
through each of the stories in the film. There are many from the film that have
participated in this making of, including co-writer/actor/director Rusty
Cundieff, co-writer/producer Darin Scott, actors Corbin Berson, Wings Hauser,
and Anthony Griffith, and some of the make-up and effects crew as well. We do
not hear from Clearance Williams III, Spike Lee, or any of the other actors.
That would have been a great treat to have everyone in this doc, but what we
have is great to begin with.
Vintage Featurette (6m 4s, SD)
This is a featurette that was made at the same time the film
was being made. While we get to see a lot of behind the scenes footage, we also
get our only interviews with Clearance Williams III, Spike Lee, and many of the
other cast members. Since this was made back in 1995 when the film was made, we
do not get the twenty-plus years of reflection that the other making of
brought.
Theatrical Trailer (1m 41s, SD, 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio)
This is a good trailer for the film and one of the only
greenband trailers that I have ever seen that
contains the word “shit” in it. I
guess that the MPAA isn’t always on their game.
TV Spots (3m 26s, SD)
We get seven TV spots that look more or less the same.
Photo Gallery (9m 46s, HD)
There is no music playing like you would find on other still
galleries like this and that is really weird, sitting there for almost ten
minutes watching photos, posters, and behind the scenes photos fly by with no
sound or music.
THE PACKAGING ⭐⭐⭐1/2
Scream Factory has given us a beautiful package here.
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The slipcover tells us that there
is an audio commentary featuring Rusty Cundieff and Darin Scott. There is no
such commentary as it was lost after it was recorded earlier this year. The
slipcover was not changed, but the back cover on both sides of the insert are
updated to include just Rusty Cundieff on the track.
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The disc is REGION A (locked)
THE PICTURE ⭐⭐⭐1/2
Tales from the Hood
has been kicked around for a long time before being picked up by Universal and
licensed by Scream Factory. The film was given a VHS and Laserdisc release back
in 1995 and then a DVD release sometime early in the formats life and that was
it. We didn’t get any type of anniversary edition or any re-release of any kind.
Those who had the DVD had the deal with its subpar picture and terrible sound.
In comes Scream Factory, who has saved the day before and
will again. They have given Tales its due and the picture is the first thing
that got fixed. We get the film in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio and the
film has never looked better. Colors pop off the screen and skin tones look
nice. Definition and clarity are nice although there are times where the
picture is blurry or the quality dips a bit. There is a thin layer of grain
that reminds us that we are watching something that was “filmed”.
I think that Scream has done a great job on this transfer,
even if there could have been a better restoration done, maybe Universal
wouldn’t have allowed it, or the effort was out of the budget that Scream has
allotted for this release. The fact that we have a proper release of the film
is the important thing here.
THE SOUND ⭐⭐⭐
Scream has given us two tracks, although I am not sure why.
Both tracks are DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, but there is nothing too different
about the tracks. The first track is the default track and it sounds great. The
film has a lot going on at times and the track is able to keep up with it.
Dialogue is crisp and clean and there is no distortion that I found.
The second track sounds almost the same, but dated. The
sound is more muted than the other track and there is a hissing on the track. I
think that Scream is adding untouched tracks to blu-rays so that fans of that
particular film can have their track (the sounds that they remember) and others
can have a track that has been cleaned up and smelling nice.
THE FILM ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Tales from the Hood
came out at a time when horror films were at their lowest. Being a horror fan,
meant that I had to sit through hours and hours of crappy direct to video
garbage to find one horror film that I could tell my friends about. Even fewer
horror films were released to theaters. Sure, Lord of Illusions and Tales from
Crypt Presents Demon Knight would be two of the standouts when it came to 1995
horror films, we also got Village of the Damned, Vampire in Brooklyn,
Rumplestiltskin (which I skipped school to go see in the theater),
Hideaway, and The Mangler to “entertain”
us.
Then in May of 1995 we got a film that could have been good
or bad, Tales from the Hood.
Now, I was looking forward to this film because of the
director’s (Rusty Cundieff) previous film, Fear of a Black Hat, which I think
is one of the funniest films ever made. The film showed that Cundieff could
handle comedy, but horror was a whole other picture. Thankfully, we didn’t have
to worry, as Cundieff and crew crafted a horror film that also had many comedic
moments, but was, most importantly, scary.
When three drug dealers (Samuel Monroe Jr., Joe Torry, and De'aundre Bonds) are called to a funeral parlor to collect a stash of drugs, they are greeted by the creepy, eccentric Mr. Simms ('Clarence Williams III'), who proceeds to tell them four moralistic tales of terror regarding the deceased who lie in his parlor. The first tale concerns a man murdered by crooked police officers (Tom Wright) and the officer who begins hearing his voice from beyond the grave (Anthony Griffith) to avenge his death. The second story deals with a boy named Walter (Brandon Hammond), the monster who torments him (David Alan Grier), and the teacher who realizes that something is wrong (Rusty Cundieff). The third story deals with a white supremacist running for governor (Corbin Bernsen) who lives in an old house with a history of racial violence and who refuses to heed the warnings of the supernatural presence that occupies it. Finally, the fourth story deals with a career criminal (Lamont Bentley) who agrees to undergo a horrific behavioral modification program overseen by a government-employed scientist (Rosalind Cash). The stories each become gradually scarier as Mr. Simms go on and as the drug dealers begin to lose their patience, until they are ultimately given what they have come for - and find that there is something much more evil to the funeral home than they ever realized.
The first story is told through the eyes of the rookie cop
who witnessed the beating. He brings the murderous cops to the cemetery and
watch as the cops are terrorized and killed by the murdered man. While this
story deals with racist cops, it also touches on the power of the badge. The
rookie cop is quits the force and drinks himself into a stupor because he knows
that the higher ups with side with the racist cops. There is also the issue of
drugs in the black community. Used needles are found everywhere (and used by
the murdered man) and during a struggle between one of the racist cops and the
murdered man, the cop rips open the man’s shirt (taking his rotted flesh with
it) to reveal a crack pipe inside, signifying that the problem goes deeper than
people think it does.
The second story deals with child abuse. This is something
that is a bit more universal than racist cops and, I think, is the standout of
the film. David Allen Grier, known for playing comedic characters on In Living
Color, in downright scary as the abusive stepfather. Seeing this film twenty
years after its release, I was still in awe at how this, and the other stories,
held up. Director Cundieff creates a ton of suspense in this story and makes
monster real.
The third story is about a racist running for governor. He
moves into an old plantation where he is haunted by the spirits of slaves who
worked and died on that plantation. The slaves come back as dolls that mess
with the racist’s head and end up attacking him.
This story is a bit of a letdown because all of the cards
are on the table from the get go. There is no suspense or sense of dread. We
know what is going to happen and that takes away from the story. The
performance by Corbin Bernson is great and the effects work by the Chiodo
Brothers is always top notch. I wish that the filmmakers would have let the
story breathe a bit more. It still is an effective story, but diminished a bit
by the shortness of the piece.
The final story is the weakest of the stories. It concerns a
gang member who is offered a chance to change his life and live after being
gunned down after a failed drive-by. He is subjected, Clockwork Orange style,
to a series of awful images of crimes against blacks, not just by racist white
people, but also black people as well. The film tells us that everyone can
commit hate crimes, even against your own race. This fourth story leads into
the conclusion of the wrap around story, but that is for you to find out.
The wraparound story, about the gang members going to the
funeral home to buy drugs, is your typical anthology wraparound story. What
makes this one better than others is the performance by Clearance Williams III,
who plays Mr. Simms, the owner of the funeral home. Williams defines over the
top in such a gleeful way that you want the other stories to conclude faster so
that Williams can come back onscreen. The way the man says “The shit? Oh, you
will be knee deep in the shit!” gives me goosebumps every time I watch it. The
man can play creepy and funny at the same time like few others can and he is
one of the highlights of the film.
Tales from the Hood
is a film that should have been a big hit when it was released. I think that
the studio releasing the film in the summer was a bad idea and that they should
have waited until September or October to release it. The film would have found
a bigger audience. As it stands, Tales from
the Hood is one of the best horror films to come out of the 90’s. It is
scary, funny, well made, and tells stories that most people can relate to, not
just black people. This is a film that needs to be seen by horror fans.
OVERALL ⭐⭐⭐1/2
Tales from the Hood
was screaming for blu-ray release and Scream Factory was the right company to
answer the call. They have done a great job with this release. The picture and
audio quality are great and the special features are really good. The film is a
favorite of mine and I hope that a lot more people see the film because of this
release.
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 Blu-ray Review + Screenshots){kind=link}
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